I was wondering if any of you had read Robin Hobb's Rain Wild Chronicles (Dragon Keeper etc...)? I loved the two Farseer trilogies (probably reread them 15-20 times at this point), and the Liveship trilogies were thoroughly enjoyed, but I haven't been able to touch her new books ever since I read the Soldier Son books. I can't tell if those were just a low-point in an otherwise stellar writing career, or if she just lost her mojo when she didn't have the Fool and Fitzchivalry as characters. Frankly, I'd rather leave my conception of the Farseer universe the way it is rather than spoil it if next books are no good, so I'd appreciate some input.

And apologies to those who liked the Soldier Son trilogy. I wish I could help you see what bad books they are.

I was wondering if any of you had read Robin Hobb's Rain Wild Chronicles (Dragon Keeper etc...)? I loved the two Farseer trilogies (probably reread them 15-20 times at this point), and the Liveship trilogies were thoroughly enjoyed, but I haven't been able to touch her new books ever since I read the Soldier Son books. I can't tell if those were just a low-point in an otherwise stellar writing career, or if she just lost her mojo when she didn't have the Fool and Fitzchivalry as characters. Frankly, I'd rather leave my conception of the Farseer universe the way it is rather than spoil it if next books are no good, so I'd appreciate some input.

And apologies to those who liked the Soldier Son trilogy. I wish I could help you see what bad books they are.

:P I liked the Soldier Son books. Could be because I kept telling myself to not think of it as "typical Hobb" in the Farseer universe style. All the rest of Hobb that I really like... well, mostly the emotional anguish shat she writes so well was in there. And a very cool "wild wild west" vibe that I haven't really seen that much in fantasy.

but anyways, I read the Rain Wilds stories, and I can pretty much guarantee you'll like them. a bit weird though, in the sense that they're possibly the "happiest" of all Hobb books. Other than that happiness they have a lot of the feel of the Liveship trilogy again.

__________________Homo sapiens non urinat in ventum

Theoryland Siren

Bonded to JWB

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
-- Winston Churchill

I do want to read them, I'm just terrified there's going to be some sort of information dropped that makes one of my favorite characters from the old books suddenly less fun. I'm very protective of them. :/

I liked aspects of Soldier Son, it was just:
1) The main character was basically fatzchivalry. Same basic personality, just got fat. Although I actually thought some of the best parts of the book were how she wrote him dealing with the weight - it seems like she either thought about it very carefully or had some heavy friends, because some of her descriptions of basic actions that change when you put on weight were really good.

2) The whole Plains Indian appropriation kinda annoyed me. It felt like a back-drop rather than a real culture, the way she wrote it in those books.

I mean, they weren't bad fantasy novels, they were just bad for Robin Hobb. Although it is interesting that ALL of her books are getting happier. It almost makes you want to go up to her and ask, "What did someone do to you right before you wrote the ending to Assassin's Apprentice?"

well then it's good news that there's almost no mention of any characters from the previous books. There's sort of... passing mention about the current Elderlings and at one point Althea shows up for about 4 pages (but I might be wrong, that might have been a mention as well) but that's it.

__________________Homo sapiens non urinat in ventum

Theoryland Siren

Bonded to JWB

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
-- Winston Churchill